See you in court (but probably not)

+An article on the PoliticsHome website is headed ‘Does the Treasury value regions?’ and laments the lack of investment in the north. It points out that, for example spending on transport in 2022/23 in London was £813 per capita compared to just £219 in the East Midlands, which was the lowest. None of this comes as a surprise. Perhaps the explanation can be found in the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alastair Darling’s 2008 Mansion House speech, where he tells the audience of City nabobs ‘I wanted to confirm our commitment to the London Crossrail link, which is important for the future of the City of London, linking it to Heathrow airport.’ (Back From The Brink, p95)  It’s important for a Chancellor of the Exchequer to know which side their bread’s buttered—or think it’s buttered. The Crossrail project, estimated to cost £14.8 billion eventually cost £19 billion.

+A story on the clickbait reports that Liz Truss is threatening to sue Starmer for defamation—if he repeats his claim that she ‘crashed the economy’ - which apparently so destroyed her reputation that it helped lose her seat in the general election. Little more proof is required in my opinion that she is completely bonkers. But hang on. Maybe she’s right in that she wasn’t entirely responsible for the dire state of the UK economy. 14 years of austerity and sucking up to the rich also contributed. Regardless, if she pursued her claim to the libel court she may be hard put to find a jury that would agree with her. I hope she tries.